Content Soul

A collection of words of wisdom and excerpts from the spiritual gatherings of Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq

May, 2020

  • 9 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 16: Knowledge and Ignorance

    “Knowledge is the realisation of one’s ignorance. Ignorance is the delusion of knowledge.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 9 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 17: Rejuvenation

    “Fasting has many physical benefits including the healthy maintenance of the whole body, and the rejuvenation of the entire immune system.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 8 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 15: Wind of Rahma

    “During Ramaḍān, there is a wind of Rahma which touches everyone. This is why people change in Ramaḍān; there is a natural inclination to good.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 7 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 14: Raised Voices

    “Ramaḍān is the last of times to argue or raise our voices.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 6 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 13: Higher Awareness

    “One of the spiritual benefits of a proper fast is that it creates a higher level of consciousness and awareness of Allāh.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 5 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 12: True Fast

    “A true fast is also of the heart and mind: to observed a true fast you do not entertain any thoughts or feelings which are harām.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 4 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 11: External Carriage

    Ramadan 2020 Day 11

    “For eleven months of the year we starve the rūḥ and lavish all our attention on the external carriage (our physical body).” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq  

  • 3 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 10: Curb the Nafs

    “Fasting curbs the cravings of the lower self, for when the body is hungry the nafs is full but when the body is full the nafs is hungry.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 2 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 9: Expiation

    “The five prayers, Friday to Friday, and Ramadan to Ramadan are all expiators of what’s in between them if one avoids major sins. (Muslim)” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 1 May

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 8: Miracle

    Ramadan 2020 Day 8

    “Millions of children being able to memorise the Quran, a book of over 80,000 words in a language they can’t understand, is truly a miracle.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

April, 2020

  • 30 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 7: Immune System

    “The Islamic purpose of fasting is to create taqwa: the soul’s own immune system, which develops resistance to spiritual diseases and sin.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 29 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 6: Sacred Hours

    “The hours, days and nights of Ramaḍān are sacred and one should be mindful of their sanctity just as one is mindful of the sanctity of the Ḥaram.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 28 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 5: Solitude

    “The Prophet’s ﷺ practice of i’itikaf began even before Quranic revelation when he would seclude himself in the cave of Hira during Ramadan.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 27 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 4: Bodily Seclusion

    “Fasting itself is a form of i’tikāf whereby we retreat into a bodily seclusion, renounce food, drink and desire, and focus on the spirit.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq  

  • 26 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 3: Spiritual Retreat

    Ramadan 2020 Day 3

    “The original meaning of i’tikāf was to devote oneself and focus oneself on something to the exclusion of everything else. Ramadan is a form of iʿtikāf for the entire month. We should treat the whole of Ramaḍān as a spiritual retreat where we devote ourselves to, and focus on, the ibadah of Allāh to the exclusion of everything else.” – …

  • 25 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 2: Quarantine

    Ramadan 2020: Day 2

    “Ramaḍān is a quarantine: a sanitised and blessed atmosphere in which we spiritually recuperate, and immunise and heal our afflicted souls.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 24 April

    Ramadan 2020 – Day 1: Du’a

    “May Allāh make this Ramaḍān Mubarak for all of us, adorn our tongues with Qurʾānic recitation, and accept our deeds and supplication. Āmīn.” – Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq

  • 16 April

    Provisions of Taqwa

    We should always prepare for, and be mindful of the terminator of all pleasures: death. Below is an English translation of a beautiful Arabic poem where the author reminds us to prepare provisions of Taqwá: Oh Man! Prepare your provisions of Taqwa For indeed you do not know when the night settles with its darkness if you will remain alive …

  • 9 April

    Let No One Pride Themselves on Their Strength

    We as human beings have mastered so much. We have dived to the depths of the ocean and landed on the moon. We have sent probes to Mars and are planning manned missions to Mars. We scan the heavens. We have huge satellites and observatories. We have controlled the atom. We have made almost all the animals subservient to us …

  • 2 April

    The Product of Allah is Expensive

    Living one’s life in a good manner, achieving good and doing good, and gaining paradise is not simple. In a hadith the Prophet ﷺ says ‘Lo and behold! The product of Allāh is expensive’.  What is the product of Allāh? Jannah. In a verse of the Qur’an, Allāh says أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن …